1. Field of the Invention
The invention is a wireless augmented reality system (WARS) that leverages communications and multimedia information processing microelectronics, along with displays, imaging sensors, biosensors, and voice recognition to provide hands-free, tetherless, real-time access and display of network resources, including video, audio and data.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Related Information
Online instruction manuals are becoming more prevalent in the industrial and everyday environment. These electronic technical manuals (ETM) may be interactive. Just as with printed manuals, ETMs may become very difficult to use and maintain in these environments where elements of an environment, such as dust, chemical or general harshness may be detrimental to the electronics and storage devices used to display and operate the ETM. Further, it is not always possible for a worker who requires access to an ETM to stop work to consult ETM.
These problems are multiplied in extraterrestrial environments such as a space shuttle or a space station. During intra and extra vehicular activities, it may be virtually impossible to access a traditional keyboard and computer display to access an ETM. For example, during a satellite repair mission, it would not be practical for an astronaut in a bulky extravehicular space suit to type commands on a keyboard to view a display in the extreme environment of outer space where the sun glare may make viewing impossible.
Hands-free portable computers have been implemented in an attempt to solve some of these problems. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,305,244 and 5,844,824 describe systems in which a head-up display and voice recognition is implemented in a portable computer for displaying ETM. However, these systems, being a single user-to-computer paradigm, do not allow multiple-user access to multiple computers, multimedia devices or nodes on a network for accessing arbitrarily-selected data channels. Further, these previously-described systems are self contained and their data storage needs to be updated periodically to be sure that the latest data is displayed. Further, these systems do not allow two-way communication over local and wide area networks to other multi-media users and devices, and do not provide real-time biomedical information about the physical condition of the user.
There is thus a need for a wireless, wearable communications system allowing two-way voice, video and data communication between local users and to remote users and devices over network nodes, along with tetherless real-time monitoring of the local user's physical condition.